Private, secure travel system

ABSTRACT

A system for providing private, secure travel is provided. The system may include a transceiver. The transceiver may be operable to receive and transmit communication from and to a plurality of travelers and a plurality of service providers. The system may include an itinerary booking module. The itinerary booking module may process itinerary communications received from the plurality of travelers. The itinerary booking module may determine a plurality of legs included in each received itinerary. The itinerary booking module may book, via the transceiver, at least one service provider for each leg of each itinerary. The system may include a unique identifier generator. The unique identifier generator may generate a unique identifier for each of the plurality of travelers.

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

Aspects of the disclosure relate to systems for enhancing travelsecurity.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Increasing travel security has become more important in recent years.Travel service providers, such as hotels, airlines and car rentals maybe located in various locations around the globe. These travel serviceproviders cannot consistently be relied upon to protect a traveler'sprivacy and personally identifiable information. As such, a traveler'spersonally identifiable information, such as the traveler's name andcredit card information may become vulnerable when the traveler usespersonally identifiable information to book an itinerary, and when thetraveler uses personally identifiable information while en route.

Conventionally, there is no recourse but for the traveler to providepersonally identifiable information to travel service providers.Specifically, many travel service providers require personallyidentifiable information, such as name and credit card data, to book anitinerary. Many travel service providers also require personallyidentifiable information in order to secure a rented item, such as ahotel room or rental car, against incidental damage.

Therefore, a system that protects a traveler's anonymity and provides asurety for the service providers would be desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

A method for implementing a private, secure travel itinerary isprovided. The method may include receiving the itinerary from atraveler. The itinerary may include a plurality of legs. Each leg mayinclude a first location, a second location and a method oftransportation from the first location to the second location. Each legmay also include details relating to lodging at the second location.Such details may include hotel room and car rental details.

The method may also include transmitting the itinerary to a PACT centralprocessing system. A PACT central processing system may be a system thatcan vouch for the reliability of a traveler. The PACT central processingsystem may have access to financial accounts of the traveler. The PACTcentral processing system may also include the ability to rate thereliability of the traveler. As such, in the event that the travelerfails to complete the itinerary, the PACT central processing system mayensure that travel service providers are compensated. Also, in the eventthat the traveler is causes damage during the journey documented by theitinerary, the PACT central processing system may transmit identifyingdocumentation to the travel service providers. Additionally, in theevent that a traveler fails to arrive, the PACT central processingsystem may lower the traveler's reliability rating. As such, it maybecome difficult for the traveler to use the PACT central processingsystem to book an itinerary at a different time.

The PACT central processing system may generate a unique anonymousidentifier. The unique anonymous identifier may identify both theitinerary and the traveler. In some embodiments, the unique identifiermay only identify the traveler. As such, the unique identifier may bereusable for multiple itineraries. In certain embodiments, the uniqueidentifier may be dynamic. As such, the unique identifier may change foreach leg in the journey, or after a predetermined time period.

In some embodiments, the unique identifier may include a biometricidentifier. The biometric identifier may be associated with the traveleror bearer of the identifier.

The PACT central processing system may anonymously book, with a serviceprovider, the identifier for each leg included in the itinerary. Theanonymous booking may include transmitting the identifier to the serviceprovider. The anonymous booking may also include transmitting the leg ofthe itinerary to the service provider. In some embodiments, theanonymous booking may include reserving a specific item withouttransmitting an identifier.

The PACT central processing system may transmit the following to thetraveler: the unique identifier and a plurality of details relating tothe one or more service providers.

A service provider may receive electronic input from the traveler. Theelectronic input may correspond to the unique identifier. The serviceprovider may validate the received unique identifier with the PACTcentral processing system. In some embodiments, the service provider mayhave received the unique identifier. In such embodiments, the serviceprovider may validate the unique identifier absent any involvement fromthe PACT central processing system.

In certain embodiments, the service providers may delete the uniqueidentifier from service provider records upon successful completion of aservice provided by the service provider.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent uponconsideration of the following detailed description, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative diagram in accordance with principles ofthe disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another illustrative diagram in accordance with principlesof the disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows yet another illustrative diagram in accordance withprinciples of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows still another illustrative diagram in accordance withprinciples of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows yet another illustrative diagram in accordance withprinciples of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows still another illustrative diagram in accordance withprinciples of the disclosure;

FIG. 7 shows yet another illustrative diagram in accordance withprinciples of the disclosure;

FIG. 8 shows still another illustrative diagram in accordance withprinciples of the disclosure;

FIG. 9 shows yet another illustrative diagram in accordance withprinciples of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 shows still another illustrative diagram in accordance withprinciples of the disclosure; and

FIG. 11 shows still yet another illustrative diagram in accordance withprinciples of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

Apparatus and methods for implementing a private, secure travelitinerary is provided.

A pact central processing system for private, secure travel itineraryimplementation may also be provided. The system may include atransceiver. The transceiver may be operable to receive and transmitcommunications to a plurality of travelers and a plurality of serviceproviders. The transceiver may be operable to receive itinerarycommunications from a traveler. An itinerary communication may include aschedule of events relating to planned travel. The itinerary may includelocations to be visited at specific times and methods of transportationto move between locations. The itinerary may comprise a plurality oflegs. Each of the legs may correspond to the travel between a firstlocation and a second location.

The pact central processing system may also include an itinerary bookingmodule. The itinerary booking module may be operable to processitinerary communications received from the plurality of travelers. Theitinerary booking module may also determine a plurality of legs includedin each received itinerary. The itinerary booking module may also bookat least one service provider for each leg of each itinerary. Thebooking may be executed via the transceiver.

The pact central processing system may also include a unique identifiergenerator. The unique identifier generator may generate a uniqueidentifier for each of the plurality of travelers. The unique identifiermay be transmitted to the associated traveler via the transceiver.

In some embodiments, the unique identifier may include a biometricidentifier. The biometric identifier may be transmitted to the pactcentral processing system from the traveler together with the itinerarycommunication. In some embodiments, the unique identifier may bedynamic. As such, the unique identifier may change after a predeterminedperiod of time. Such a unique identifier may exhibit one-time passwordcharacteristics.

The itinerary booking module may transmit, for each leg of eachitinerary, via the transceiver, the generated unique identifier, to theservice provider. The itinerary booking module may maintain records ofeach scheduled booking.

The traveler may transmit personally identifiable information togetherwith the itinerary communication. However, the personally identifiableinformation may be unavailable to the plurality of service providers.

During the travel of the traveler, the transceiver may receive atraveler validation communication from a service provider. Thevalidation communication may include a unique identifier received fromthe traveler at the service provider. The itinerary booking module mayvalidate the unique identifier with a previously-received itinerarycommunication. The itinerary communication may validate the uniqueidentifier and the service provider with stored data to ensure that thetraveler is following the itinerary. Upon validation, the itinerarybooking module may transmit a validated communication to the serviceprovider that transmitted the traveler validation communication.

Apparatus and methods described herein are illustrative. Apparatus andmethods in accordance with this disclosure will now be described inconnection with the figures, which form a part hereof. The figures showillustrative features of apparatus and method steps in accordance withthe principles of this disclosure. It is to be understood that otherembodiments may be utilized and that structural, functional andprocedural modifications may be made without departing from the scopeand spirit of the present disclosure.

The steps of methods may be performed in an order other than the ordershown or described herein. Embodiments may omit steps shown or describedin connection with illustrative methods. Embodiments may include stepsthat are neither shown nor described in connection with illustrativemethods.

Illustrative method steps may be combined. For example, an illustrativemethod may include steps shown in connection with another illustrativemethod.

Apparatus may omit features shown or described in connection withillustrative apparatus. Embodiments may include features that areneither shown nor described in connection with the illustrativeapparatus. Features of illustrative apparatus may be combined. Forexample, an illustrative embodiment may include features shown inconnection with another illustrative embodiment.

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative diagram. Traveler 102 may scheduleitinerary 104. Itinerary 104 may be a schedule of events relating toplanned travel. Itinerary 104 may preferably record a travel route. Assuch, itinerary 104 may include locations to be visited at specifictimes and transportation methods to move between these locations.

Itinerary 104 may include multiple legs, such as legs 1, 2, 3 and 4. Aleg in the itinerary may be movement from a first location to a secondlocation. The movement may be via various transportation methods, suchas airplane, car, foot, bus or any other suitable transportation method.The itinerary may include the transportation method in which traveler102 intends to travel from the first location to the second location.

The itinerary may also include data relating to a location in which thetraveler may stay for a period of time. For example, traveler 102 mayoriginate in Paris, France. Traveler 102 may depart using an airplanefrom an airport in Paris. The airplane may arrive in an airport inAtlanta, Ga., United States. In Atlanta, Ga., traveler 102 may rent ahotel room and a rental car during the stay in Atlanta, Ga. Datarelating to the hotel room and rental car may be included in theitinerary.

Itinerary 104 may include legs 1, 2, 3 and 4. Leg 1 may include detailsrelating to travel between location A and location B. Leg 1 may alsoinclude details relating to a stay at location B. Leg 2 may includedetails relating to travel between location B and location C. Leg 2 mayalso include details relating to a stay at location C. Leg 3 may includedetails relating to travel between location C and location F. Leg 3 mayalso include details relating to a stay at location F. Leg 4 may includedetails relating to travel between location F and location A. Becauseleg 4 concludes with location A, which is the final destination and/ororiginating location, leg 4 may or may not include details relating to astay at location A.

At times, there may be reasons to preserve the privacy of traveler 102and/or the privacy of itinerary 104. As such, traveler 102 may want tobook the itinerary without giving personally identifiable information(“PII”) to the service providers, such as hotel agencies, car rentalservices and airlines. However, the service providers may requireminimum PII in order to ensure the security and safety of the service.Therefore, a traveler, such as traveler 102, may subscribe to a PACTcentral processing system. The PACT central processing system mayanonymously book the service providers on behalf of the traveler. ThePACT central processing system may also maintain PII associated with thetraveler. The PACT central processing system may receive authorizationto access financial accounts of the traveler. As such, the serviceproviders may trust the PACT central processing system when anonymouslybooking a traveler. In some embodiments, the traveler may transmit theitinerary to a financial institution. The financial institution may actas a PACT central processing system. The financial institution maycommunicate with a PACT central processing system.

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative diagram. Traveler 102 may transmititinerary 104 to financial institution 202.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative diagram. Financial institution 202 maytransmit itinerary 104 to PACT central processing system 302. Inaddition to the itinerary, financial institution 202 may transmitidentifying information relating to traveler 102.

In some embodiments, financial institution 202 may not transmit thetraveler's identifying information to PACT central processing system302. In such embodiments, financial institution 202 may generate aunique identifier that corresponds to the traveler. Financialinstitution 202 may transmit the unique identifier together withitinerary 104 to PACT central processing system 302. It should beappreciated that PACT central processing system 302 may maintain a levelof trust with financial institution 202.

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative diagram. PACT central processing system 302may link itinerary 104 to unique identifier 402. Unique identifier 402may be a biometric identifier, such as a fingerprint, face scan, irisscan or any other suitable identifier. Unique identifier 402 may be anon-biometric identifier, such as a unique alphanumeric combination,unique barcode, unique quick response (“QR”) code or any other suitableunique non-biometric identifier. Unique identifier 402 may also be acombination of a biometric identifier and a non-biometric identifier. Abiometric identifier may be transmitted together with the itinerary fromthe financial institution to the PACT central processing system.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative diagram. PACT central processing system 302may transmit unique identifier 402, or a digital rendition of uniqueidentifier 402, to traveler 102. Traveler 102 may retain the uniqueidentifier for the duration of the trip outlined by the itinerary.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative diagram. PACT central processing system 302may book the service providers required for traveler 102 to completeitinerary 104. As shown, PACT central processing system 302 may transmitunique identifier 402 to service provider 1, shown at 602. Serviceprovider 1 may provide air travel services. PACT central processingsystem 302 may transmit unique identifier 402 to service provider 2,shown at 604. Service provider 2 may provide hotel services. PACTcentral processing system 302 may transmit unique identifier 402 toservice provider 3, shown at 606. Service provider 3 may provide carrental services.

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative diagram. Traveler 102 may retain the uniqueidentifier while en route on the journey detailed by itinerary 104.Traveler 102 may arrive, with unique identifier 402, at service provider2, shown at 604. Traveler 102 may present unique identifier 402 in orderto check-in to the hotel service provided by service provider 2—e.g., byvirtue of a biometric characteristic, or a stored code on a mobiledevice.

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative diagram. Service provider 2, shown at 604,received unique identifier 402 from traveler 102, as shown in FIG. 7. Inorder to validate unique identifier 402, service provider 2 may transmitunique identifier 402 to PACT central processing system 302. PACTcentral processing system 302 may validate unique identifier 402 againststored data. The stored data may include itinerary 104 and uniqueidentifier 402. In the event that service provider 2 is included onitinerary 104 for the time frame in which the unique identifier wasreceived at service provider 2, PACT central processing system 302 maytransmit a valid communication to service provider 2. The validcommunication may indicate that the bearer of unique identifier 402 isvalidated to check-in to service provider 2.

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative diagram. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9,traveler 102 may transmit both itinerary 104 and unique identifier 402to financial institution 202. Unique identifier 402 may be a biometricidentifier.

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative diagram. In the embodiment shown in FIG.10, traveler 102 may transmit itinerary 104 directly to PACT centralprocessing system 302. It may be appreciated that, in such embodiments,a financial institution may be absent from the process flow.

FIG. 11 shows an illustrative diagram. In the embodiment shown in FIG.11, PACT central processing system generates unique identifier 402 fortraveler 102, and transmits the unique identifier to traveler 102 viafinancial institution 202. As such, PACT central processing system 302may transmit unique identifier 402 to financial institution 202.Financial institution 202 may transmit unique identifier 402 to traveler102.

Thus, a private, secure travel system is provided. Persons skilled inthe art will appreciate that the present invention can be practiced byother than the described embodiments, which are presented for purposesof illustration rather than of limitation. The present invention islimited only by the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for implementing a private, secure travel itinerary, the method comprising: receiving the itinerary from a traveler, said itinerary comprising a plurality of legs; transmitting the itinerary to a PACT central processing system; generating, at the PACT central processing system, a unique anonymous identifier, said unique identifier identifying: the itinerary; and the traveler; anonymously booking, by the PACT central processing system, the identifier for each leg included in the itinerary, with a service provider; and transmitting, from the PACT central processing system, the unique identifier and a plurality of details relating to the one or more service providers to the traveler.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving an electronic input at one of the one or more service providers, corresponding to the unique identifier, from the traveler.
 3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the one of the one or more service providers validating the received unique identifier with the PACT central processing system.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the booking further comprises transmitting the unique identifier to the one or more service providers.
 5. The method of claim 4 further comprising deleting the unique identifier from records of the one or more service providers upon successful completion of a service provided by the one or more service providers.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the unique identifier comprises a biometric identifier associated with the traveler.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the unique identifier corresponds to a biometric identifier associated with the traveler.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more service providers comprise airline services, hotel services or car rental services.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the unique identifier is valid for a predetermined time period.
 10. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting, to each of the one or more service providers, a leg of the itinerary, said leg of the itinerary being relevant to the service provider to which the leg of the itinerary is being transmitted.
 11. A pact central processing system for private, secure travel itinerary implementation, the system comprising: a transceiver, said transceiver operable to receive and transmit communications to a plurality of travelers and a plurality of service providers; an itinerary booking module, said itinerary booking module operable to: process itinerary communications received from the plurality of travelers; and determine a plurality of legs included in each received itinerary; and book, via the transceiver, at least one service provider, included in the plurality of service providers, for each leg of each itinerary; and a unique identifier generator, said unique identifier generator operable to generate a unique identifier for each of the plurality of travelers.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein, for each leg of each itinerary, the itinerary booking module transmits, via the transceiver, the generated unique identifier to the service provider.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the unique identifier is unique to the itinerary and the traveler.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein personally identifiable information relating to the plurality of travelers is unavailable to the plurality of service providers.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the transceiver is further operable to transmit each generated unique identifier to the associated traveler, included in the plurality of travelers.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the transceiver is operable to receive a traveler validation communication from a service provider, included in the plurality of service providers, said communication comprising a unique identifier received from a traveler.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the itinerary booking module validates the unique identifier with a previously-received itinerary communication, and transmits a validated communication to the service provider that transmitted the traveler validation communication.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein each unique identifier is dynamic, and varies for each leg of the itinerary. 